To think parking charges are killing the high street?

[menztoray]

Lots more people are shopping online now including myself. But if you do want to shop in traditional high streets, parking charges are often fairly high. I think this stops people shopping in high streets, especially if they just want to buy a few low value things. I understand that local councils need to make money, but I do think this is contributing to killing the high street.

Parking in my local town carry ridiculous charges. So people park on the (free) supermarket car park, including disabled bays (no badges), including p&c bays (no kids) and fuck off to college/town for hours.

I suppose it can't help the demise of the highstreet, but I also factor in delivery costs when buying online and if I'm actually going to be in to receive it. If you are buying several items from different retailers then the delivery charges will add up so in that instance it might be better to suck it up and park instead.

I actually went to a local town today. You can only park for 2 hours and it’s pay and display too. Couldn’t get what I needed to get done in that time (as going to a class and then thought I’d pick up some groceries and have a coffee... no time to do it) so ordered online when I got back.

No idea what the answer is.

I suppose it can't help the demise of the highstreet, but I also factor in delivery costs when buying online and if I'm actually going to be in to receive it. If you are buying several items from different retailers then the delivery charges will add up so in that instance it might be better to suck it up and park instead.

If they're all in stock (or stocked at all), of course.

No, its the unfair pricing advantage internet retailers have over high street retailers that is killing the high street. Reasoning car park charges is just plain lazy. Most cities and towns have alternative park & ride options but for some reason people feel compelled to have the right to travel direct to where they need to go.

No, its the unfair pricing advantage internet retailers have over high street retailers that is killing the high street.

How is it "unfair" ? If you don't have to pay for premises and the associated rates, then passing the savings onto the customer seems entirely fair. I can guarantee that if internet retailers charged exactly what is charged in store, we'd be hearing about how unfair it is.

What's really happening is two entirely different business models are being compared, and the High Street found wanting. Given the pace and way we are required to live our lives just to live, it's a reflection of the society we have become.

I walk to town as live very close, but if I didn't, no way would I pay to visit a half closed town centre.
Charity shops, pie shops, coffee houses, and typical well known shops that stock the bare min, so you end up ordering online anyway.
If delivery is free, a bonus.

No, its the unfair pricing advantage internet retailers have over high street retailers that is killing the high street

Retail Price Maintenance has been illegal (oh, OK, "assumed to be against the public interest" for the purposes of other prosecutions) since 1964. Last outposts like the Net Book Agreement lasted later into the last century. There is no "unfair pricing advantage". There may be a "pricing advantage" in that their overheads are lower: usually, we regard lower pricing from more efficient businesses as good for the consumer.

I completely agree. I am a bit old fashioned in that i like to go and look, touch and come home with the item. I think first hour free would go a huge way, people would nip in to do the bits they needed, take internet returns back etc and whilst there spend a few quid.
I know it wouldn't solve it, but it would help

No, the internet retailers are undercutting the high street with less staff and business rates overheards. The high street provide more employment than internet retailers and therefore they should be assisted as much as possible to keep people in jobs.

usually, we regard lower pricing from more efficient businesses as good for the consumer.

Of course if shops are playing other roles in society, then there's a good case to be made for looking at things like rates and planning regulations etc. Much the same way the government/Post Office were compelled to subsidize rural post offices (if memory serves).

Of course if shops are playing other roles in society, then there's a good case to be made for looking at things like rates and planning regulations etc

Yeah. But if H&M go bust because teenagers are buying their clothes from ASOS, so what?

Coming next: why MP3 players should be made illegal in order to keep HMV in business.

The high street provide more employment than internet retailers and therefore they should be assisted as much as possible to keep people in jobs.

How much more tax will you pay to achieve this then ?

Yeah. But if H&M go bust because teenagers are buying their clothes from ASOS, so what?

I agree

Coming next: why MP3 players should be made illegal in order to keep HMV in business.

Er that's a slippery analogy. The music business spent much of the late 90s and early 00s desperately trying to thwart the digital market (some still are). Far more than they spent on paying artists a decent whack, or giving customers a decent choice.

The high street provide more employment than internet retailers and therefore they should be assisted as much as possible to keep people in jobs.

Failing to move with the times helps no one in the long run.

We have our business on a high street, parking for us and staff is impossible as everything is yellow lined with over zealous traffic wardens, there’s a car park a fair walk away which isn’t expensive and inconvenient as we often have to leave the business on work related trips. The landlord wants to put the rent up despite parking issues and business rates are extortionate. If we can’t park, customers can’t park. We have decided to relocate as soon as a suitable building comes up

The things I think are killing high streets are:

• High rents
• High business rates
• High carparking charges and lack of spaces
• Expensive public transport
• Lack of toilet facilities
• Lack of public benches
• Lack of places for children to burn off energy
• Lack of healthy, affordable places to eat
• Lack of variety between shops
• Lack of range in the shops
• Lack of reasons for going to the high street apart from the shops
• Not knowing beforehand if the shop will actually have what you want in stock before you go due to the lack of check quantity in store options on their websites
• long queues for paying
• lack of staff on the shop floor

It's almost like they don't want people to use the highstreets.

YABU (as far as I'm concerned). I don't even think about the parking charges. The amount of actual purchase price money, and time, I save by shopping online makes the parking look totally insignificant tbh.

I agree with Kpo, completely.

I do think the biggest problem is stock. Pick a shop like H&M or New look, they have far more choice online than in their stores.
If you have to pay for parking, you might as well buy online and have it delivered to your home, rather than collect in store where you might find something else and spend more.

YABU OP it's not that simple is it?

I lived just outside a small market town with a large free car park - but you couldn't get a space after about 9 - all the workers at local businesses filled (and residents) filled up the free parking.

After they started charging it made occasional visits much easier - so I actually shopped there more.

I go to hairdresser in town where I used to live. All the car parks are free but 2.5 hours max (you put a disc in window). I have one as used to live there but a visitor wouldn't so couldn't park. The traffic wardens visibly circle and ticket cars. So if I go for colour/cut/blowdry I have to watch I don't go over and then I walk past shops I would have popped in and spent money in but can't due to car park.
This is a deprived town with lots of empty shops and empty car parks.
Last Saturday I walked past wilkinsons, homebargains etc in town so I didn't overstay after my hair appointment to drive to the morrisons 5 mins away simply because of parking. So the town shops missed out. Madness.

It is easy to have a mixture of free parking. 30 minutes directly outside shops for quick purchases. 3 hours a bit further away, and then all day a bit further away.

Also I understand younger people not bothering with shops. But people my age late 50s plus, do still shop. And there are a lot of us. If shopping is made attractive and easy for the older age group, town centres will do better.

Also I understand younger people not bothering with shops. But people my age late 50s plus, do still shop. And there are a lot of us. If shopping is made attractive and easy for the older age group, town centres will do better.

Yes, but if the generations behind you aren't going to shop those changes will have a limited lifespan - far in excess of their cost.

But people my age late 50s plus, do still shop.

You are confusing age with cohort. Do you think that people in their thirties will, in twenty years time, go "ah, enough of that convenient on-line shopping, what I need today is a trip to M&S in order to be ignored by a surly member of staff before I find out they have no stock anyway?"

There are a few things that people age into, so that they are predominantly associated with old age doesn't mean they are dying off. Varifocal glasses, for example. Shopping isn't one of those things.